A few months ago, Western Digital released the WD TV HD Plus ($129.99, 3 stars), a set-top box designed to play nearly any media file from a USB drive. It could play movies or songs in nearly any format, but a blunt, awkward user interface held it back. Now, the company has given its WD TV Live series a significant upgrade with the WD TV Live Hub ($199.99 direct). With a roomy 1-terabyte hard drive and a drastically improved interface, the Live Hub earns our Editors' Choice for media hubs with integrated storage.

DesignIts design and features make the Live Hub somewhat similar to the previous generation of the Apple TV ($99 direct, 4 stars); while Apple removed the hard drive from its new set-top box, Western Digital added massive storage.

The Live Hub is much larger and flatter than previous WD TV boxes. With its flat, featureless surface and rounded corners, the 1.3-by-7.8-by-6-inch (HWD) box looks like a black version of the last-gen Apple TV. The front of the device features only a power switch, a USB port, and a Western Digital logo that lights up when it's powered on. The back of the device offers one each of HDMI, optical audio, component video, composite video, USB, and Ethernet connections, plus the power adapter port. Unlike the WD TV Live Plus, you don't need an adapter to plug in an analog video connection; you can just hook cables directly into the back of the larger, newer device.

The box's chunky 6.5-inch remote isn't visually impressive, but it gets the job done. Its rubber buttons are laid out in an accessible formation focused around a central direction pad for menu navigation. The Live Hub can also work with USB keyboard, but use outside of actual text input feels clunky and slow.

Most set-top box upgrades get an interface makeover; the Live Hub received emergency reconstructive surgery. The new media hub's interface, called "Mochi," is worlds apart and leagues better than previous WD TV Live products. The menus are much more polished and graphically attractive, featuring movie and album cover art when it's available. Instead of the naked file systems and text menus of older WD TV Live boxes, Mochi incorporates a rich GUI with user-customizable wallpapers and multiple views for each media type. You can use the old text lists if you want, but you can also use neatly organized tiles showing either the full list of movies, music, and photos on the device, or only the files in the current folder you're browsing.

It's not a perfect interface, thoughunder the colorful backgrounds and loads of polish are some awkward navigation conventions. Many of the settings for playback, storage, and interface appearance are buried under multiple, seemingly redundant menus. There's a setup menu, a contextual options menu, a dashboard for quick access, a main menu for general media access, and setup, option, and four color buttons on the remote. The depth and breadth of playback and navigation options feel very incongruous with the polished, simplified Mochi interface.

Expect to put work into keeping the Live Hub's menus clean and easy to navigate. The device comes preloaded with several movie trailers and music tracks, all with cover art and meta data, and all organized into neat sections. Once you start to put your own files on the Live Hub, you need to take the time to make sure all the meta data and cover art is properly set up with the media. Otherwise, files are given generic placeholder icons, and are displayed using only their file names. It doesn't make a difference when you're actually playing your media, but it can make the difference between the Live Hub feeling like a polished media front-end and the disorganized interface of the last-generation WD TV. On the bright side, the Live Hub conveniently scans the drive and compiles all media files into their appropriate sections, regardless of folder location; you can access every movie file on the Live Hub on one screen, or you can use the folder view to navigate the drive like a computer. It won't distinguish between, say, movies and TV shows or automatically organize seasons of a show, but it does make it easier to find files when they're all in one place.

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for more than six years, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. Since graduating from Syracuse University in 2005, Will has...

Automatic Renewal Program: Your subscription will continue without interruption for as long as you wish, unless
you instruct us otherwise. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of the term unless you authorize
cancellation. Each year, you'll receive a notice and you authorize that your credit/debit card will be charged the
annual subscription rate(s). You may cancel at any time during your subscription and receive a full refund on all
unsent issues. If your credit/debit card or other billing method can not be charged, we will bill you directly instead. Contact Customer Service